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7 Ideas for Writers Who Have No Idea What to Write About

• by Laurie Pawlik
• June 27, 2023
• 16 Comments

How do you write an essay, article or blog post when you have no ideas and nothing to write about? When I taught Language Arts and Journalism, I often watched students stare at their blank pages, bewildered. They knew they had to write – and they even wanted to write – but they had nothing to write about.

Welcome to the club! It’s illustrious and teeming with authors, bloggers, scriptwriters and freelancers. All writers get stuck sometimes. Even professional journalists on assignment, published book authors with an editor breathing down their neck, and Oscar-winning screenwriters who have a swiftly-approaching deadline. Even unknown bloggers like me get stuck even though I typically write more than 2,000 words a day. Actually, my problem is a little different: I have too many ideas, too much to write about …and I get paralyzed. I feel like I have nothing to write about because of my jumbled thoughts and ideas and plans.

But even though I often have ideas for blog posts and even magazine articles (which I never pitch because I’d rather be blogging), I know the feeling of having nothing to write about. So you’ve come to the right place, fellow scribe. Put your feet up; my seven writing tips will give you something to write about. I guarantee it! Because even if you still aren’t motivated and have no ideas at the end of this blog post, you can write about how bored and tired you were while reading. And then you can write about that .

Yes, I was an annoying teacher. When students came to me and said, “I have nothing to write about” I’d tell them to write about that (being bored and uninspired). Where does your mind go when it’s unoccupied? How often are you bored? What do you think about and feel most often? Who do you think about when you have nothing to do? What is the most boring activity in the world? Write about stuff like that.

But read these tips first. You may find more ideas than you can shake a pen at.

7 Ways to Get Ideas to Write About

“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open,” says Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within .

Easier said than done, Natalie.

You may be perfectly happy – and willing – to write about ideas that disturb and scare you. The problem is you have no ideas . Word of warning: Don’t fall into the trap of believing you have “writer’s block.” That will become a self-fulfilling downward spiral and you really will have no ideas to write about. Instead, focus on  writing a rough first draft  of your project.

1. Don’t drown in discouragement

Discouragement is a death knell for successful writers because once it sets in, it suffocates your motivation to write. Discouraging thoughts will kill your creativity and suffocate even the smallest spark of a good idea. Instead of sitting and staring at your blank paper or screen (like I forced my students to do), get up. Go somewhere. Talk a walk, run, bike ride or swim. If you’re in class, ask your teacher if you can walk around the school. The most important thing is to fight the discouragement.

The best way to fight discouragement is to get specific . Are you discouraged because, say, you’re not get­ting enough traffic to your blog right now? Or many you have nothing to write about because you feel pressured to make money as a freelance writer. Or maybe you’re trying to find an essay topic. I don’t know what your situation is…but you do. And that means you need to dig around inside you .

Took a long break? Read How to Motivate Yourself to Start Writing Again .

2. Stop thinking about what to write about

Take a deep breath. Settle your bum in your chair. Close your phone or laptop. Get off the internet; it’s a distracting, not an idea-generating machine.

Instead of trying to find something to write about, just start writing whatever comes into your head. Let your thoughts flow, your imagination rise, your emotions bubble to the surface. Don’t think. Just write whatever is in your head. What made you mad last night? Who are you worried about? Why are you looking for ideas to write about? Where are you going tomorrow? Write about it all.

3. Do the “Write ~ Reward” dance

To force myself to write when I think I have nothing to write about , I say: “Laurie, after you’ve worked on the editor’s assignment client’s stuff for 30 minutes, then you can reward yourself by blogging for an hour.” I don’t consider blogging writing . This is play. To me, real writing involves books, magazine articles, church articles and copy for clients. After I do my real writing, I reward myself by blogging.

What’s your idea of real writing? What’s your idea of a reward for coming up with ideas to write about, writing for 20 minutes, then taking a little break? This dance can take you miles down the road…and you’ll barely notice how far you’ve come. Until you arrive at your destination. Then you’ll be a happy writer.

4. Put a new spin on an old theme

Some writers have more ideas than they can use; other writers struggle to come up with ideas they think editors, agents, or publishers will buy. One way to write despite “idea block” is to spice up what’s already been written. For example, there are a million articles on how to write a book. How can you spin this idea and make it more unique?

Here’s an example from earlier this morning: a couple years ago I wrote an article for alive magazine about women’s circles (which I called “girl gangs”). This morning I used some of the research and interview excerpts to answer a reader’s comment. I called this new blog post How Women’s Circles Help You Stop Feeling Bad About Yourself . Learn how to rewrite previously successful (or boring) themes and ideas in fresh new ways.

5. Allow yourself to start write bad, boring stuff with bad, boring ideas

“All of us who do creative work … get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap, that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good,” says American public radio personality Ira Glass. He won lots of awards, including the Peabody, and wrote the forward of Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio by Jessica Abel.

“A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. And the thing I would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be — they knew it fell short, it didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have. And the thing I would say to you is everybody goes through that .

6. Remember how fast words add up!

Write a lot…one word at a time. “The most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work,” says Natalie Goldberg. “Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, or every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. Because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap.”

If you’re a new freelance writer, you’ll hate spending hours writing and pitching article query letters, and hearing nothing back from magazine editors. Find a writing buddy to help you through the dry spells. He/she can be another freelance writer or an entrepreneur. Find someone who has career goals similar to yours, and work together to achieve your goals. Make a pact to share your progress – and figure out effective “punishments” if you don’t perform satisfactorily. Be there for each other.

7. Say yes to writer’s slump (but not writer’s block)

“Writing is elemental,” said Natalie in Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within . “Once you have tasted its essential life, you cannot turn from it without some deep denial and depression. It would be like turning from water.”

Natalie Goldberg also said:

“A writer must say yes to life, to all of life: the water glasses, the Kemp’s half-and-half, the ketchup on the counter. It is not a writer’s task to say, “It is dumb to live in a small town or to eat in a café when you can eat macrobiotic at home.”

Our task is to say a holy yes to the real things of our life as they exist – the real truth of who we are: several pounds overweight, the gray, cold street outside, the Christmas tinsel in the showcase, the Jewish writer in the orange booth across from her blond friend who has black children.

We must become writers who accept things as they are, come to love the details, and step forward with a yes on our lips so there can be no more noes in the world, noes that invalidate life and stop these details from continuing.”

What do you think, fellow scribe? I hope one of these ideas will give you something to write about…or at least something to think about. Eventually your thoughts will lead to something worth writing down. And all will be well!

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16 thoughts on “7 Ideas for Writers Who Have No Idea What to Write About”

Your points are interesting. When I hit that wall where I’m completely stuck and feel almost “stalled”, what I do is I go out to ezine articles and start looking at what others have written about the subjects that I’m interested in. While I’m doing that I jot down the ideas that come to my mind so that I can remember them later.

I split my research time from my writing time too. That way I can let my creative juices flow without getting bogged down in trying to produce something right then.

The other thing that I do is I break my ideas into sub-sections and write about each sub-section. Typically I shoot for writing 350 to 550 words per sub-section and make 3 to 4 points.

There’s my 2 cents.

It’s not JUST that I think it’s pointless to spend so much time writing rubbish and am scared to try or whatever, and I didn’t understand what you even meant by the last part about it being stupid to go to a cafe or something… – I don’t have anything to say at all! Not ‘my ideas are bad’ or ‘I can’t write’ (although that’s true too – whenever I want to say something I often can’t find the words and am unable to get across exactly what I mean, and it’s SO frustrating), but I don’t have ideas at all! I literally do not know how to have ideas. People just say ‘well think’, like it’s that easy and obvious and I must be stupid to not have any. I think constantly. I can’t understand anyone who doesn’t. But I think about things, not think of new things. There is nothing I have to say that wouldn’t be a copy of something that’s already been said. And why would one copy something almost word for word? That’s copying, not creating. I just feel like I must be stupid because all the so-called advice still means nothing to me. I want to be able to create things, I just don’t know what. Any of my so-called thoughts are just ‘oh, that book was good, that film was good, that idea that so and so was talking about was good’. Not ‘oh wouldn’t it be cool if ***stuff that I’ve not been told directly by someone else before at some point***’. I just feel so stupid. And if its a case of ‘oh you’re just not meant to be creative’.. well apparently my life has been telling me I’m not meant to do anything. I seem to fail at anything I try, or want to do, and I feel so pathetic seeing people talk like it’s obvious and easy and even the ‘problems’ are solvable. Nobody seems able to tell me how to have something to say, only that I should start saying it.

Hey. I want to write. When i was in school I wrote a lot. I wrote some songs for my ex. I don’t know if I i can write or not but sometimes it feels like I really should write. i had ideas butI then seem to disagree with them. this post of yours in a way guided me. I am looking forward to you and myself. Maybe I don’t know this is gonna help me in many ways.

Ah! Laurie, you just prodded me to action. Thank you very much. Do you know that for several months now, I’ve not been able to write a word? Now I’m beginning to do something. If I become any kind of a writer one day, you will be the first person on my mind that has really encouraged me. Thank you.

Thanks for your comments! I’ve learned that it’s crucial to write down my ideas at the exact moment I have them, or I’ll forget…and then I’ll be stuck. That’s how I write a blog post – and sometime two – every weekday.

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How to Write an Essay If You Don’t Have Any Ideas

• Essay Writing

Writing an essay indeed requires inspiration and mood. But what is even more important is the idea behind it.

Sometimes getting the opportunity to choose an essay topic yourself is much better than having to write on the teacher’s assigned topic. But this is true only in the cases when you already have some thoughts on what you want your essay to be about.

So, what should you do if you need to write an essay but have no clue what to write about? Some of our tips might be helpful to you:

• Move from general to specific.
• Find inspiration in someone else’s work.
• If you are struggling too much, don’t write it at all.
• Use search results.
• Go back through your notes.
• Brainstorm.
• Choose a topic that resonates with you.

Keep reading to learn more about each of these techniques that every student can use to improve their studying.

Tip #1 – Move from General to Specific

The basic rule of working from big to small and from general to specific can be applied to many processes. Actually, it also can be applied to your essay.

When you need to come up with a topic, you can start by researching the subject or the information within its general sphere first.

For example, if you need to write an essay on volcanoes, you can:

• Start by googling everything about volcanoes, such as: a) Their history b) Their general or geographical facts
• After that, you can start narrowing down your topic, by choosing one volcano to write about and its characteristics.
• Specify the topic even more, and come up with an excellent topic for your essay, like: a) How People Use Volcanic Ash and Perlite b) How Volcanoes Benefit Our Environment c) The Influence of Volcanoes on the History of Civilization

When you have an opportunity to take a general look at the sphere of your research before starting your essay, you can dive deeper into your topic when you choose one.

Moreover, you can come up with a topic that you have much more information about. So, instead of looking for information to suit your topic, you can form the topic that will suit the most interesting facts or illustrations that you were able to find.

Tip #2 – Find Inspiration in Someone Else’s Work

Is taking someone’s topic called plagiarism? Of course, it is. As such, you should use your own imagination and your ideas. But getting some inspiration from someone’s work or idea is not a crime.

When you have nothing to write about, you can always turn to the internet which is stuffed with ideas, like essay samples or topic lists. You can get a few hints when looking through these materials and then adjust the ideas you have found to match your needs.

For example, there are lists of topics for high school and college students which you might find helpful. Each of the topics on these lists can be narrowed, evaluated, or even compiled to build up the idea for your essay.

Anyway, if you don’t know what you want your essay to be about, looking through other essays or essay topics will definitely help you to come up with an idea.

Tip #3 – If You Are Struggling Too Much, Don’t Write It at All

This is one of the simplest options for you (and actually the first one that usually comes to mind). If you are struggling with your essay, if you don’t have any motivation, if you are not in the mood, or if you are too depressed to write an essay, just don’t write it.

It’s always your choice whether to put your effort into another assignment or not. Actually, not every assignment is worth struggling with, especially if you have tried doing it too many times, and still can’t pull it off.

If you are afraid of the consequences of such a choice, you can ask a writing service to help you out, by writing an essay for you. This way, you will have something to hand in without having to struggle to write your essay. Many students prefer using such services instead of trying to find an answer to the question of “How do I get in the mood to write an essay?” They do so because they either have part-time jobs or are not that good at writing.

Tip #4 – Use Search Results

If you often say to yourself “I can’t start my essay,” just type out a word related to the subject, use it to look through Google search results, and pay attention to headings and questions based on it. Typically, you will easily find a few good ideas that can be transformed into essay topics.

For example, by typing out the word “volcanoes,” you can see information and suggested search queries on:

• Volcano names
• Active volcanoes
• Does lava move fast?
• Can one survive a volcanic eruption?
• What will you do before a volcanic eruption?

See, each of these ideas can be expanded and used to find a lot of useful information and write an essay on it.

Tip #5 – Go Back Through Your Notes

Every time you have a class, your teacher highlights certain key points and thesis statements. Each of them can also be a great basis for an essay. You can start developing your idea based on the information in your notes, and by narrowing your topic by diving deeper into research.

Many students say “I can’t start my essay,” when they actually have a good basis to begin working on it. You can also find great ideas in your textbooks or additional materials that your teacher may have mentioned.

Eventually, you can speak straight to a professor and share your experience to get some useful advice on a point that you might be able to start with, such as a book to use in your research or other sources that might become a basis for furthering idea development.

Tip #6 – Brainstorming

Brainstorming is one of the main methods that is utilized to find an idea or a solution to a problem when a student can’t think of anything to write for their essay. You have probably already heard of this method, and now it might be the right time to try it out.

Brainstorming is simple. It requires providing as many thoughts on the topic as possible while considering each of the thoughts as suitable for further development. In other words, none of the thoughts are declined no matter how silly they seem, as they might transform into an excellent idea.

So, basically, when you need to come up with an idea for your essay, you just need a notepad and a pencil to start writing down every idea around the subject that comes to your mind. You should start with the easiest thing, such as a single word around the sphere of your research.

For example, if you have an assignment to write an essay on, such as how certain foods and beverages can ruin your health, you can start with “fast food,” “sugary soda drinks,” or “energy drinks.”

Then write down everything that relates to these starting phrases, for example:

• Heart disease
• Health control

After you have a list of the ideas, start filtering them out and pick the one that can be developed into a great essay idea, for example:

• How the government should regulate the market of energy drinks.
• The importance of nutritious diet control for children.
• Is fast food our problem #1? The correlation between obesity and fast food chain development.

Tip #7 – Choose a Topic that Resonates with You

You probably have some topic that speaks to you more than the others. If it can be used to write a particular assignment, then it’s great. But, sadly, it’s not always possible, as many school programs cover a lot more than topics that you might find interesting. Though, you still can come up with an idea that can be related to your sphere of interests or hobbies.

For example, if you need to write an essay on damaging foods, you can find points that connect this topic to your sphere of interests, such as ecology. In this case, your essay topic can be something like this: “Energy drink production damage,” or “How to reduce the negative effects of fast food packaging?”

This way, you can say a lot more on the topic, and you will enjoy researching and writing this assignment.

Wrapping Up

Coming up with a good essay idea is not an easy thing, especially if you have tight deadlines and have to write your essay in a hurry. So, you can always consider the option of asking for help from a professional writing service . Or, you can just brainstorm some ideas yourself.

If you struggle with essay topics often, you should get used to carrying a notepad with you to write down good essay ideas that you can use in the future. This way, you won’t have to struggle and say how “I can’t write this paper because I have no ideas” anymore.

Related Articles

Essay Writing Tips: 10 Steps to Writing a Great Essay (And Have Fun Doing It!)

by Joe Bunting | 117 comments

Do you dread essay writing? Are you looking for some essay tips that will help you write an amazing essay—and have fun doing it?

Lots of students, young and old, dread essay writing. It's a daunting assignment, one that takes research, time, and concentration.

It's also an assignment that you can break up into simple steps that make writing an essay manageable and, yes, even enjoyable.

These ten essay tips completely changed my writing process—and I hope that they can do the same for you.

Essay Writing Can Be Fun

Honestly, throughout most of high school and college, I was a mediocre essay writer.

Every once in a while, I would write a really good essay, but mostly I skated by with B's and A-minuses.

I know personally how boring writing an essay can be, and also, how hard it can be to write a good one.

However, toward the end of my time as a student, I made a breakthrough. I figured out how to not only write a great essay, I learned how to have fun while doing it . 

And since then, I've become a professional writer and have written more than a dozen books. I'm not saying that these essay writing tips are going to magically turn you into a writer, but at least they can help you enjoy the process more.

I'm excited to share these ten essay writing tips with you today! But first, we need to talk about why writing an essay is so hard.

Why Writing an Essay Is So Hard

When it comes to essay writing, a lot of students find a reason to put it off. And when they tackle it, they find it difficult to string sentences together that sound like a decent stance on the assigned subject.

Here are a few reasons why essay writing is hard:

• You'd rather be scrolling through Facebook
• You're trying to write something your teacher or professor will like
• You're trying to get an A instead of writing something that's actually good
• You want to do the least amount of work possible

The biggest reason writing an essay is so hard is because we mostly focus on those external  rewards like getting a passing grade, winning our teacher's approval, or just avoiding accusations of plagiarism.

The problem is that when you focus on external approval it not only makes writing much less fun, it also makes it significantly harder.

Because when you focus on external approval, you shut down your subconscious, and the subconscious is the source of your creativity.

The subconscious is the source of your creativity.

What this means practically is that when you're trying to write that perfect, A-plus-worthy sentence, you're turning off most of your best resources and writing skills.

So stop. Stop trying to write a good essay (or even a “good-enough” essay). Instead, write an interesting  essay, write an essay you think is fascinating. And when you're finished, go back and edit it until it's “good” according to your teacher's standards.

Yes, you need to follow the guidelines in your assignment. If your teacher tells you to write a five-paragraph essay, then write a five-paragraph essay! If your teacher asks for a specific type of essay, like an analysis, argument, or research essay, then make sure you write that type of essay!

However, within those guidelines, find room to express something that is uniquely you .

I can't guarantee you'll get a higher grade (although, you almost certainly will), but I can absolutely promise you'll have a lot more fun writing.

The Step-by-Step Process to Writing a Great Essay: Your 10 Essay Writing Tips

Ready to get writing? You can read my ten best tips for having fun while writing an essay that earns you the top grade, or check out this presentation designed by our friends at Canva Presentations .

1. Remember your essay is just a story.

Every story is about conflict and change, and the truth is that essays are about conflict and change, too! The difference is that in an essay, the conflict is between different ideas , and the change is in the way we should perceive those ideas.

That means that the best essays are about surprise: “You probably think it's one way, but in reality, you should think of it this other way.” See tip #3 for more on this.

How do you know what story you're telling? The prompt should tell you.

Any list of essay prompts includes various topics and tasks associated with them. Within those topics are characters (historical, fictional, or topical) faced with difficult choices. Your job is to work with those choices, usually by analyzing them, arguing about them, researching them, or describing them in detail.

2. Before you start writing, ask yourself, “How can I have the most fun writing this?”

It's normal to feel unmotivated when writing an academic essay. I'm a writer, and honestly, I feel unmotivated to write all the time. But I have a super-ninja, judo-mind trick I like to use to help motivate myself.

Here's the secret trick: One of the interesting things about your subconscious is that it will answer any question you ask yourself. So whenever you feel unmotivated to write your essay, ask yourself the following question:

“How much fun can I have writing this?”

Your subconscious will immediately start thinking of strategies to make the writing process more fun.

The best time to have your fun is the first draft. Since you're just brainstorming within the topic, and exploring the possible ways of approaching it, the first draft is the perfect place to get creative and even a little scandalous. Here are some wild suggestions to make your next essay a load of fun:

• Research the most surprising or outrageous fact about the topic and use it as your hook.
• Use a thesaurus to research the topic's key words. Get crazy with your vocabulary as you write, working in each key word synonym as much as possible.
• Play devil's advocate and take the opposing or immoral side of the issue. See where the discussion takes you as you write.

3. As you research, ask yourself, “What surprises me about this subject?”

The temptation, when you're writing an essay, is to write what you think your teacher or professor wants to read.

Don't do this .

Instead, ask yourself, “What do I find interesting about this subject? What surprises me?”

If you can't think of anything that surprises you, anything you find interesting, then you're not searching well enough, because history, science, and literature are all brimming   over with surprises. When you look at how great ideas actually happen, the story is always, “We used  to think the world was this way. We found out we were completely wrong, and that the world is actually quite different from what we thought.”

These pieces of surprising information often make for the best topic sentences as well. Use them to outline your essay and build your body paragraphs off of each unique fact or idea. These will function as excellent hooks for your reader as you transition from one topic to the next.

(By the way, what sources should you use for research? Check out tip #10 below.)

4. Overwhelmed? Write five original sentences.

The standard three-point essay is really made up of just five original sentences surrounded by supporting paragraphs that back up those five sentences. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just write five sentences covering your most basic main points.

Here's what they might look like for this article:

• Introductory Paragraph:  While most students consider writing an essay a boring task, with the right mindset, it can actually be an enjoyable experience.
• Body #1: Most students think writing an essay is tedious because they focus on external rewards.
• Body #2: Students should instead focus on internal fulfillment when writing an essay.
• Body #3: Not only will focusing on internal fulfillment allow students to have more fun, it will also result in better essays.
• Conclusion: Writing an essay doesn't have to be simply a way to earn a good grade. Instead, it can be a means of finding fulfillment.

After you write your five sentences, it's easy to fill in the paragraphs for each one.

Now, you give it a shot!

5. Be “source heavy.”

In college, I discovered a trick that helped me go from a B-average student to an A-student, but before I explain how it works, let me warn you. This technique is powerful , but it might not work for all teachers or professors. Use with caution.

As I was writing a paper for a literature class, I realized that the articles and books I was reading said what I was trying to say much better than I ever could. So what did I do? I quoted them liberally throughout my paper. When I wasn't quoting, I re-phrased what they said in my own words, giving proper credit, of course. I found that not only did this formula create a well-written essay, it took about half the time to write.

It's good to keep in mind that using anyone else's words, even when morphed into your own phrasing, requires citation. While the definition of plagiarism is shifting with the rise of online collaboration and cooperative learning environments, always  err on the side of excessive citation to be safe.

When I used this technique, my professors sometimes mentioned that my papers were very “source” heavy. However, at the same time, they always gave me A's.

To keep yourself safe, I recommend using a 60/40 approach with your body paragraphs: Make sure 60% of the words are your own analysis and argumentation, while 40% can be quoted (or text you paraphrase) from your sources.

Like the five sentence trick, this technique makes the writing process simpler. Instead of putting the main focus on writing well, it instead forces you to research  well, which some students find easier.

6. Write the body first, the introduction second, and the conclusion last.

Introductions are often the hardest part to write because you're trying to summarize your entire essay before you've even written it yet. Instead, try writing your introduction last, giving yourself the body of the paper to figure out the main point of your essay.

This is especially important with an essay topic you are not personally interested in. I definitely recommend this in classes you either don't excel in or care much for. Take plenty of time to draft and revise your body paragraphs before  attempting to craft a meaningful introductory paragraph.

Otherwise your opening may sound awkward, wooden, and bland.

7. Most essays answer the question, “What?” Good essays answer the “Why?” The best essays answer the “How?”

If you get stuck trying to make your argument, or you're struggling to reach the required word count, try focusing on the question, “How?”

For example:

• How did J.D. Salinger convey the theme of inauthenticity in  The Catcher In the Rye ?
• How did Napoleon restore stability in France after the French Revolution?
• How does the research prove girls really do rule and boys really do drool?

If you focus on how, you'll always have enough to write about.

8. Don't be afraid to jump around.

Essay writing can be a dance. You don't have to stay in one place and write from beginning to end.

For the same reasons listed in point #6, give yourself the freedom to write as if you're circling around your topic rather than making a single, straightforward argument. Then, when you edit and proofread, you can make sure everything lines up correctly.

In fact, now is the perfect time to mention that proofreading your essay isn't just about spelling and commas.

It's about making sure your analysis or argument flows smoothly from one idea to another. (Okay, technically this comprises editing, but most students writing a high school or college essay don't take the time to complete every step of the writing process. Let's be honest.)

So as you clean up your mechanics and sentence structure, make sure your ideas flow smoothly, logically, and naturally from one to the next as you finish proofreading.

9. Here are some words and phrases you don't want to use.

• You  (You'll notice I use a lot of you's, which is great for a blog post. However, in an academic essay, it's better to omit the second-person.)
• To Be verbs (is, are, was, were, am)

Don't have time to edit? Here's a lightning-quick editing technique .

A note about “I”: Some teachers say you shouldn't use “I” statements in your writing, but the truth is that professional, academic papers often use phrases like “I believe” and “in my opinion,” especially in their introductions.

10. It's okay to use Wikipedia, if…

Wikipedia is one of the top five websites in the world for a reason: it can be a great tool for research. However, most teachers and professors don't consider Wikipedia a valid source for use in essays.

Don't totally discount it, though! Here are two ways you can use Wikipedia in your essay writing:

• Background research. If you don't know enough about your topic, Wikipedia can be a great resource to quickly learn everything you need to know to get started.
• Find sources . Check the reference section of Wikipedia's articles on your topic. While you may not be able to cite Wikipedia itself, you can often find those original sources and cite them . You can locate the links to primary and secondary sources at the bottom of any Wikipedia page under the headings “Further Reading” and “References.”

You Can Enjoy Essay Writing

The thing I regret most about high school and college is that I treated it like something I had  to do rather than something I wanted  to do.

The truth is, education is an opportunity many people in the world don't have access to.

It's a gift, not just something that makes your life more difficult. I don't want you to make the mistake of just “getting by” through school, waiting desperately for summer breaks and, eventually, graduation.

How would your life be better if you actively enjoyed writing an essay? What would school look like if you wanted to suck it dry of all the gifts it has to give you?

All I'm saying is, don't miss out!

Looking for More Essay Writing Tips?

Looking for more essay tips to strengthen your essay writing? Try some of these resources:

• 7 Tips on Writing an Effective Essay
• Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

How about you? Do you have any tips for writing an essay?  Let us know in the  comments .

Need more grammar help?  My favorite tool that helps find grammar problems and even generates reports to help improve my writing is ProWritingAid . Works with Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, and web browsers. Also, be sure to use my coupon code to get 20 percent off: WritePractice20

Coupon Code:WritePractice20 »

Ready to try out these ten essay tips to make your essay assignment fun? Spend fifteen minutes using tip #4 and write five original sentences that could be turned into an essay.

When you're finished, share your five sentences in the comments section. And don't forget to give feedback to your fellow writers!

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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A (Very) Simple Way to Improve Your Writing

• Mark Rennella

It’s called the “one-idea rule” — and any level of writer can use it.

The “one idea” rule is a simple concept that can help you sharpen your writing, persuade others by presenting your argument in a clear, concise, and engaging way. What exactly does the rule say?

• Every component of a successful piece of writing should express only one idea.
• In persuasive writing, your “one idea” is often the argument or belief you are presenting to the reader. Once you identify what that argument is, the “one-idea rule” can help you develop, revise, and connect the various components of your writing.
• For instance, let’s say you’re writing an essay. There are three components you will be working with throughout your piece: the title, the paragraphs, and the sentences.
• Each of these parts should be dedicated to just one idea. The ideas are not identical, of course, but they’re all related. If done correctly, the smaller ideas (in sentences) all build (in paragraphs) to support the main point (suggested in the title).

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

Most advice about writing looks like a long laundry list of “do’s and don’ts.” These lists can be helpful from time to time, but they’re hard to remember … and, therefore, hard to depend on when you’re having trouble putting your thoughts to paper. During my time in academia, teaching composition at the undergraduate and graduate levels, I saw many people struggle with this.

• MR Mark Rennella is Associate Editor at HBP and has published two books, Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Leaders and The Boston Cosmopolitans .  

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Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

←How to Write a Last Minute Essay

11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your Essay→

We’ve all had that feeling. You know you have to write an essay, a research paper, or even a story, but you can’t seem to string two thoughts together. It’s frustrating, it’s disheartening, and you don’t know how long it’ll be before inspiration strikes again. 

This familiar feeling is commonly known as “writer’s block”. According to The New Yorker , it was once believed that writer’s block was caused by exhausting one’s supply of inspiration or a lack of external motivation. Now, thanks to the research of Jermone Singer and Michael Barrios, we know that there are four broad causes of writer’s block: 

• Excessively harsh self-criticism 
• Fear of being compared to other writers and their work
• A lake of external motivation such as praise or attention 
• A lack of internal motivation such as a desire to share a story with the world 

No matter which bucket your writer’s block falls under, you are certainly not alone, and you can definitely get your creative juices flowing again. Want to get over your writer’s block? Here are some proven techniques that will help re-inspire your writing. 

Tips For Overcoming Writer’s Block On Your College Essay 

1. freewrite .

A lot of people get stuck on the idea that what they write has to be perfect, and that pressure keeps them from writing down anything at all. If you find yourself feeling that weight on your shoulders, just take a step back for a minute. Give yourself some leeway to write whatever you want on the topic that you’re writing about, even if it’s grammatically incorrect or irrelevant. Just writing something down can often give the mind something to work with, and it can often lead to further inspiration.

Keep in mind that this freewriting can take whatever form you want it to. It can be full sentences, bullet points, even phrases randomly placed on a sheet of paper. Whatever gets your brain thinking in some capacity is a good step in overcoming writer’s block. 

2. Respond to Brainstorm Questions 

What if your writer’s block is so bad that you can’t even come up with a topic or subject for your essay? If you need a place to start, try thinking about something that is not directly related to your college essays. The easiest things to brainstorm are things that you know, like yourself. Here are some easy brainstorm questions to get you thinking: 

• Who are my favorite characters on TV, Literature, and movies? Why are these my favorite characters? 
• What is something that I would join a multi-day protest march for? Is there actually anything that I am passionate about?
• Say I had to start a business selling something, and I would achieve the average level of success (financially, socially, etc) within that business, what would I choose to do?
• What nonprofit or cause would I volunteer for assuming I could not choose an activity that I’ve already done or an activity available in my school?

While these questions may not be immediately relevant to the college essay you’re trying to write, they are introspective questions. So the more you think about answers to these questions, the more you are reflecting on yourself and your goals. If you can start writing down your answers, then you’re already well on your way to writing a personal statement or explaining your interests and passions to colleges.

3. Talk It Out With A Friend 

College essays always ask you to reflect on yourself, and who knows you better than some of your closest friends? While they shouldn’t write your essay for you, they can be a good sounding board for ideas while giving you some ideas of their own. Try contacting someone you trust and asking them how they would answer the essay prompt if they were answering it for you. See what comes to their mind. They may bring up an interesting approach to an essay that you hadn’t even thought about, or remind you about an aspect of yourself that you hadn’t already considered. Their ideas could help spark your ideas. 

Keep in mind, this doesn’t have to be a friend. It could be a close relative, a neighbor, or even a teacher. You just need to talk to somebody who knows you well and can give you insight on how you should approach the essay, not how they would. 

4. Read a Memoir or Listen To a Podcast 

Inspiration tends to fuel inspiration, and what better way to get inspired to write a creative essay about yourself than to read/listen to others’ creative essays about themselves. Perhaps listening to people tell their stories will give you some ideas on how you can tell your story for your college essays. 

People share their stories in a variety of ways, both offline and online. You could read the personal memoir of someone who inspires you, or of someone whose story you relate to. If you want something that takes a little bit less time, you could listen to a podcast or watch a TED Talk of people telling their stories. Some other places to find inspiration are The New York Times’ Modern Love column or stories from The Moth . Most of the above are short and quick and could possibly spark inspiration for your own essay. 

5. Change Your Environment 

Maybe it’s not that you lack ideas or inspiration. Maybe you just can’t, for whatever reason, seem to get your ideas down on paper. That’s totally normal, and there’s a chance that your environment has something to do with it. If you’ve been brainstorming in your room for hours or if you’re not comfortable wherever you are, it’s going to be very difficult for you to be able to write creatively and vulnerably. 

Try going somewhere else to write, preferably somewhere with fresh air and sunshine. A simple change of scenery can be surprisingly helpful in getting your brain to work again and letting the creativity come through. As long as you’re peaceful and comfortable wherever you go, it’s a good place to be writing. 

6. Get Some Exercise 

It is commonly accepted that exercise releases endorphins and other helpful chemicals that stimulate your brain and keep you happy. In this way, exercise can be very beneficial in the writing process. If you’re feeling frustrated because of your writer’s block, exercise can lift your mood and give you a much-needed break. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, the chemicals in your brain can help spark some creative inspiration for your essay. 

Of course, it might be a little bit difficult to go for a run or get exercise if you’re staying at home. Just remember that no form of exercise is better than another, and exercise doesn’t have to take up a lot of space. Do some jumping jacks in place, find an apartment-friendly workout video online, or just put on some music and dance in your room. The key is to get your body moving.

7. Use a Pen and Paper 

Most students type their essays on computers instead of writing them down, and this makes sense. Almost all college applications are submitted online now, and it’s easier to share your essays with others for editing. 

That being said, typing your essays may not be the best idea if you’re experiencing writer’s block. The blank screen in front of you may be a psychological deterrent to your creativity, and the internet may serve as a huge distraction. 

If you find yourself unable to come up with something to write on a computer, try going old school and writing your ideas with a pen and paper. If you don’t have any of that around, try jotting down some ideas on a dry erase board or chalkboard. Writing your ideas instead of typing them encourages you to jot down shorter ideas and think in an entirely different way. This can be a beneficial switch for your brain as you attempt to overcome your writer’s block.

8. Work On A Different Section 

Who says that you have to write your essay from start to finish? If you are having trouble coming up with the beginning, write the end or start somewhere in the middle! If you have an idea of what you want to say and how you want the essay to flow, you can write it down in whatever order you want. Write down the parts that come easiest to you and circle back to the parts you haven’t quite figured out yet. This way, you’ll at least have something written down, and you can use that something to inspire you to write the other parts of your essay later. 

Again, your essay does not have to be perfect on the first draft. If the different parts of your essay don’t seem to fit together because you wrote them at different times, that’s okay. At least you’ll have all of the parts written down, and you can edit from there. 

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

While Sandel argues that pursuing perfection through genetic engineering would decrease our sense of humility, he claims that the sense of solidarity we would lose is also important.

This thesis summarizes several points in Sandel’s argument, but it does not make a claim about how we should understand his argument. A reader who read Sandel’s argument would not also need to read an essay based on this descriptive thesis.  

Broad thesis (arguable, but difficult to support with evidence) 

Michael Sandel’s arguments about genetic engineering do not take into consideration all the relevant issues.

This is an arguable claim because it would be possible to argue against it by saying that Michael Sandel’s arguments do take all of the relevant issues into consideration. But the claim is too broad. Because the thesis does not specify which “issues” it is focused on—or why it matters if they are considered—readers won’t know what the rest of the essay will argue, and the writer won’t know what to focus on. If there is a particular issue that Sandel does not address, then a more specific version of the thesis would include that issue—hand an explanation of why it is important.  

Arguable thesis with analytical claim 

While Sandel argues persuasively that our instinct to “remake” (54) ourselves into something ever more perfect is a problem, his belief that we can always draw a line between what is medically necessary and what makes us simply “better than well” (51) is less convincing.

This is an arguable analytical claim. To argue for this claim, the essay writer will need to show how evidence from the article itself points to this interpretation. It’s also a reasonable scope for a thesis because it can be supported with evidence available in the text and is neither too broad nor too narrow.  

Arguable thesis with normative claim 

Given Sandel’s argument against genetic enhancement, we should not allow parents to decide on using Human Growth Hormone for their children.

This thesis tells us what we should do about a particular issue discussed in Sandel’s article, but it does not tell us how we should understand Sandel’s argument.  

Questions to ask about your thesis 

• Is the thesis truly arguable? Does it speak to a genuine dilemma in the source, or would most readers automatically agree with it?  
• Is the thesis too obvious? Again, would most or all readers agree with it without needing to see your argument?  
• Is the thesis complex enough to require a whole essay's worth of argument?  
• Is the thesis supportable with evidence from the text rather than with generalizations or outside research?  
• Would anyone want to read a paper in which this thesis was developed? That is, can you explain what this paper is adding to our understanding of a problem, question, or topic?
• picture_as_pdf Thesis

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Governor DeSantis Signs Legislation to End the Squatters Scam in Florida

ORLANDO, Fla.— Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 621, which protects property rights, provides homeowners remedies against squatting, and increases penalties on squatters.

“We are putting an end to the squatters scam in Florida,”  said Governor Ron DeSantis . “While other states are siding with the squatters, we are protecting property owners and punishing criminals looking to game the system.”

“Florida is once again leading the nation, this time in securing our state against squatters,”  said  Attorney General Ashley Moody . “Biden has allowed millions of illegal immigrants to flood across the border. After video evidence of their plan to take over homes emerged, we’re ensuring Floridians are protected from this egregious and brazen scheme. I’m grateful to Governor DeSantis for signing this important legislation into law, and to Representative Kevin Steele for carrying this bill through Session.”

Under HB 621, a property owner can request law enforcement to immediately remove a squatter from their property if the following conditions are met:

• The individual has unlawfully entered and remains on the property;
• The individual has been directed to leave the property by the owner but has not done so; and
• The individual is not a current or former tenant in a legal dispute.

In Florida, it will be quick and simple to reclaim your home from squatters, avoiding costly delays, litigation, and missed rents.

HB 621 also creates harsh penalties for those engaged in squatting and for those who encourage squatting and teach others the scam. The bill makes it:

• A first-degree misdemeanor for making a false statement in writing to obtain real property or for knowingly and willfully presenting a falsified document conveying property rights;
• A second-degree felony for any person who unlawfully occupies or trespasses in a residential dwelling and who intentionally causes $1,000 or more in damages; and
• A first-degree felony for knowingly advertising the sale or rent of a residential property without legal authority or ownership.

For more on HB 621, click  here .

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